A contingent of young Dunedin women recently travelled to Christchurch to make their voices heard regarding the plight of child soldiers in Uganda.
Led by Volunteering Otago youth co-ordinator Lani Evans, the group, which was made up of Bayfield High School and Queen's High School pupils, made the pilgrimage to the Garden City to join thousands of others in a rally that was held in more than 100 cities worldwide.
The event saw more than 700 protesters march for two hours before staging an abduction in Cathedral Square, entitled ‘‘The Rescue''.
Miss Evans said the idea to make the trip north came from her shock at seeing the Invisible Children documentary at the Academy Cinema earlier this year.
‘‘When I saw the film I was shocked - child soldiers, night commuting, the longest-running war in the world [and] I hadn't heard about any of it.
‘‘I showed it to students in my volunteering groups. They were profoundly moved by the plight of the young people in Uganda and so, when we heard about ‘The Rescue' event it seemed like an excellent opportunity to get involved and take action,'' Miss Evans said.
‘‘I think ‘The Rescue' was a really great opportunity for these young women to take action, to be proactive and to see their own power. Most of the protesters were young people, high school and university students who were prepared to give up their Saturday night and sit on the cold ground in Cathedral Square for a cause they believed in.
‘‘Whoever said young people were apathetic was 100 per cent wrong,'' she said.
